No apology for casual attitude

Press, 10 March 1982, Page 6

No apology for casual attitude

PA New Plymouth The Australian cricket captain for the day, Kim Hughes, made no apology for his team’s casual attitude in its one-day match against Central Districts at Pukekura Park, New Plymouth, yesterday. “The result was not important," said Hughes after the match. “In these sort of games our fellows are not going to go full bore. “We came here (to New Plymouth) to entertain and I hope the people went away satisfied.” The Australians’ attitude to the game didn’t please everybody, least of all some of the Central players. Hughes went out to bat wearing a tie, the usual wicket-keeper, Rod Marsh, opened the bowling, and the twelfth man, Jeff Thomson, wore dark glasses on to the field when he went on to

substitute for one of his team mates. But Hughes, who wore the tie for a bet with some of his team mates, was unconcerned. “We played the game in a way that we got enjoyment from it,” he said. He also suggested that another reason for the team’s approach was that the players weren’t too happy about the timing of the whole thing. The Australian team was required to get out of bed at 5.30 a.m. yesterday morning in Christchurch in order to fly to New Ply-' mouth for the match; and it was only on Monday that they completed their match against the President’s XI at Lancaster Park. There was also no time for them to breakfast on their arrival in New Plymouth and some players ate on their way to the park. Match report, back page.